"Just for the record, I still think that this is a terrible idea..." mumbled Snape, while he and Lily walked up the stairs to the sixth floor.

"Oh please! I'm sure that she will be happy to see you. You are just being dramatic," rolled her eyes Lily.

Snape just frowned. He could imagine Evelyn's face once she saw them, and it wasn't a face full of joy. Then again, he knew better than anyone that once Lily put her mind to something, there was nothing anyone could do.

He didn't want to think about how Evelyn was going to react to the news that Lily Evans, the 'overachieving' muggle-born Gryffindor, wanted to be friends with her. In the best-case scenario, she might just laugh and leave, while in the worst-case scenario, the girls might get into a fight. Needless to say, neither outcome sounded appealing.

Therefore, he tried to drag out the time they spent correcting each other's essays as much as he could, and now he could only hope that he managed to gain enough time for Evelyn to get from the classroom to the Slytherin common room.

As he continued to hope with all his might that this meeting would not happen, he slowly walked up the stairs, not paying any special attention to Lily's chat. That was until the duo passed a group of students who were groaning about the amount of translation they had to do for homework.

"Oh no, did we accidentally pass each other? She might have already left," looked around Lily worriedly, trying to find Evelyn in the crowd.

"They might have finished earlier today. Shame, I guess you will have to postpone your meeting," commented Snape dryly, but the smirk on his face told Lily that he was not even a little sorry about the situation.

Lily just shot him an unimpressed look before she stopped one of the students.

"Excuse me, you are coming from Runes, right? Do you know whether Evelyn Williams has already left?" she asked them.

"She stayed behind to discuss something with the professor," replied a girl from Ravenclaw.

After thanking the girl, Lily just smiled sweetly at Severus, whose smirk dropped.

"Let's go," she said happily as she passed him.

"If she stayed behind, she probably has something to consult with the teacher. We should leave her to do it in peace."

"We can wait in front of the classroom," replied Lily simply, and Snape just sighed in frustration.

Things just never went how he wanted them to go.

"Honestly, I don't know why you are so against this idea. You have waited for me in front of the classroom before."

"That's different…"

"How is it different? I'm your best friend. She is your girlfriend. She will be happy to see you!"

"Somehow I can't imagine her being happy about us disturbing her while she is busy," mumbled Snape.

This made Lily stop in her tracks.

"Oh. I haven't thought about that. Well, if we have come all this way, we might as well wait for her in front of the classroom…"

There was absolutely no way for Snape to win.

So, rather than fighting a losing battle, he resigned himself and decided to let things work out on their own. Hell, if things turned out badly, he could always step in.

"What is she so busy with, anyway? She is always in the library or talking about something with one of the teachers…"

Snape just shrugged.

'That's right, I almost forgot that I wanted to learn more about her research…' he thought, as he remembered that Lupin seemed to be interested in it too.

"You know, all this secretiveness is not helping her to build a nice image. With all the things that are being said about her, it's no wonder that people think that she is into dark arts…"

Snape was quiet. He felt that he should probably say something, but he didn't know enough to argue with Lily. He had no evidence that she was not involved with dark arts or things that most people would consider immoral.

On the other hand, he had to admit that with Slytherins, people always assumed the worst, even if they were not doing anything bad, yet, he knew better than to say something and have another argument with Lily about this topic. No, if he learned something from living with his parents, it was to know when to keep his mouth shut.

Yet, as Lily went on and on about rumours, he found himself opening his mouth and before he could stop himself, he was already defending Evelyn.

"What happened to giving her a chance? I thought this whole friendship thing was for you to get to know her, but it seems that you are surprisingly opinionated when it comes to her."

"Well… It's hard not to be, given the rumours that go around about her and her group, not taking into account the ones about poor Olivia-"

"They are just rumours. We don't even know what happened to Olivia Blake. Maybe she just couldn't keep up and left the school. I mean, she was just a muggle-born and-"

"Hey! Now, what is that supposed to mean? I will let you know that muggle-borns are very good with magic, thank you very much!" cut in Lily.

Severus just sighed, "That's not what I meant… but let's face it; it's not muggle-borns, who are good at magic, but you. From what I heard, more often than not they struggle even with the simplest things,"

"But so do the others! Of course, some purebloods might be a little better at the beginning…. they have a head-start after all!"

Snape just frowned. He couldn't argue with that. Especially not when it came to Evelyn, who seemed to have more knowledge than any other student in the school.


"And how would that work, exactly? Is there supposed to be some kind of ritual or does one only use their blood to draw the symbol, thus creating a stronger connection?" asked Evelyn, puzzled.

The teacher was silent for a second, before she said, "Hmm, I am not sure about that. There is only a very small number of credible sources regarding this matter…"

After that was said, both the teacher and her student stared into their notes in silence.

"Is there no one we can consult?"

"I am afraid not. There are not many who would meddle with something like this. You have to understand that not only are these runes one of the oldest ones among ancient runes, but this topic is also something that the majority of the magical community frowns upon. No wonder no one is interested in researching something like this."

The younger girl was quiet for a moment.

"Hmm… Maybe there is something we are missing… Maybe we cannot find a spell, because there just wasn't one… What if instead of using a spell they just focused their intention on the sigil and used their magic and willpower to make it work?" mumbled the girl, deep in thought.

Hearing that, the professor's eyes went wide, and she put her hand in front of her mouth.

"Surely not! That would be chaos magic!"

Evelyn just frowned. She knew what was coming now.

"Miss Williams, you must not speak of such things! What would others think if they heard you?!"

Ah, yes, here it was. If Evelyn didn't know better, she would have rolled her eyes.

"Well, then what am I supposed to do, Professor? Should I eliminate a possible hypothesis, just because it conflicts with the currently accepted approaches?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, challenging the woman to disagree with her.

The Professor was quiet. She didn't know what to say. She knew what she was required to say, however, she also knew that it would make her sound foolish.

"If we were to explore this possibility as well, that would explain why we are not having any luck looking for spells to work with these sigils," continued the girl.

The woman just sighed. She had to stop her. Even though she knew that the girl might be onto something.

This was not what she expected when she agreed to teach ancient runes at Hogwarts. She should have listened to her colleagues, who have told her time and time again that the young Ms Williams was on a whole different level than her peers, and the trouble that brought.

"I will look into it. I know a few people, who might know how to help us. In exchange, I would like to ask you not to speak of such ideas anymore," she said, trying to save the situation.

She could see that the girl didn't like what she was hearing, but just when she was about to argue, the wizard on one of the paintings announced that some students were waiting outside the classroom.

"Let's end it here today," smiled the Professor, trying to part with her student in a good manner.

"Alright. Thank you for your time, Professor," said the girl with an emotionless voice, as she took hold of her books and left the classroom.

Only when she closed the door behind her did the teacher let out the breath she didn't know she was holding.

"I will have to ask for a raise…" she mumbled.


'This day is a disaster…' thought Evelyn, as she closed the classroom door behind her. The library study group, meeting Bertha Jorkins and her entourage, the situation with Severus, and now this.

'Staying back was just a waste of time,' she thought, annoyed, as she looked at the watch on her wrist, 'and the day is still far from over...'

"Ah, Evelyn, here you are! We have been waiting for you!" said a cheerful voice, and Evelyn turned to see Lily Evans' smiling face.

Behind her stood a frowning Severus, leaning against the wall with his hands crossed in front of his torso.

"Um… Can I help you?" asked the confused Slytherin.

"Eh, well… I was hoping to have a chat with you. You know, now that you are dating Severus, I thought that we could be friends,"

Hearing that, Evelyn's eyes went wide and even her mouth opened a bit in surprise. While usually, she had a good grip on her facial expressions, she was caught off guard by the suggestion. Not knowing what to think of the sudden suggestion, her eyes instantaneously found Snape's, as she raised an eyebrow in question.

Severus just shrugged.

'Did he tell her that we were dating, or has Bertha already played her part?' she wondered.

Then she looked back at the Gryffindor.

'Friends, huh?' she thought, entertained.

"Um… No offence, but don't you think that if I wanted to be your friend I would have tried to befriend you sometime during those years that we have known each other?"

While Evelyn was brought up to be polite, there was just something about this situation that rubbed her the wrong way. While she didn't necessarily hate the Gryffindor, she was far from liking her. Not to say that she couldn't afford to be associated with the know-it-all muggle-born. And now, here she was offering her friendship as if it was an honour to be bestowed upon her.

It was evident that she thought of her suggestion as such when the smile on her face vanished and it seemed that she was rendered speechless, as it took her a while to compose a reply.

"Well… I - I thought that maybe we have got off on the wrong foot, that's all! If you think about it, we are not that different!"

Evelyn almost laughed out loud upon hearing her answer, but she knew better than to laugh in her face, so she just gave her a look that said that she didn't quite agree, but she let her talk more.

Rather than stopping the Gryffindor, she just raised her eyebrow at Severus, silently asking what this all meant.

The boy just shrugged again.

'Thank you, that was very helpful,' thought Evelyn, 'Alright, I guess will humour his little friend and see what comes from this situation,'

"Is this how it's going to be? You two having a non-verbal conversation while I run my mouth and get ignored?" fumed the Gryffindor.

Evelyn let out a small laugh, then she looked at her watch.

"Indeed, how rude of us to ignore you. Very well, Evans, I will make some time for you. Let's see... We have an hour until dinner. Is that acceptable?" she asked, surprising both Lily and Severus.

Lily just smiled.

"Great! Let's find a quiet place for a chat!" she said happily.

"You don't have to do this…." mumbled Snape, as he and Evelyn walked behind the cheerful Gryffindor, who was listing places where they could go.

"I might as well humour her. It is the least I can do, seeing that you climbed so many stairs just to get me," she said, before she added quietly, "Not to say that I am curious how she is planning to become my 'friend'..."

"Knowing her there is no plan, she will just ask you a bunch of questions,"

Evelyn laughed.

'Of course, there is no plan. How very Gryffindor…' she thought, smirking.

While the Gryffindor girl listed the places they could go to, the Slytherins behind her were having a quiet conversation.

"I expect to hear later about how it came to this sudden turn of events, but for now I just want to say that you have once again surprised me, Severus Snape," said Evelyn, but Severus just raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

"I would have never thought that you wanted us to be friends," sneered the girl.

"There was not much I could do. You will soon realise that once she sets her mind on something, there is not much that anyone can do," sighed the boy.

"Hmm, is that so? But you were so assertive two hours ago. I would have thought that if you did not want us to talk, you would have stepped in… What happened to that dominance, hmm?"

Snape almost choked on air as his eyes went wide. What was Evelyn thinking talking about that, when Lily was right here? Thankfully, the girl wasn't paying them enough attention.

Snape let out a sigh of relief. 'Thank God. If she were to find out about that, I would never hear the end of it…'

He was about to tell Evelyn to not mention things like that in front of Lily, but when he saw the smirk on her face and the gleam in her eyes, he stopped himself.

"Don't tease me like that in a place where anyone can overhear us," he said, composing himself before he added with a smirk on his own, "You wouldn't want anyone to know what happened, would you? To think that someone like you let a half-blood like me treat you like that, what would the others think?"

Evelyn just laughed, "Oh please, there is a wide variety of rumours going around about me. What is one more?"

Severus was about to respond, when Lily suddenly stopped, and exclaimed, "Oh no! No, no, no, not now!"

"Hm? What is it?" asked Evelyn, stretching her neck, trying to see what happened.

"The stairs just moved! Great, now we will be stuck here for a while," pouted Lily.

"Let me see what is happening," said Evelyn as she cut in front of Snape and walked to the edge of the stairs.

She leaned out on the side and looked up and down, trying to assess the situation.

"Oh, yes, I forgot about the Ravenclaws... Their Quidditch practice ends at this time, so when they return to the castle, all tired, the stairs move to make sure that they can get some rest as soon as possible." said Evelyn, before she sighed, "Honestly, this is just an inconvenience to everyone. I have told Matthias repeatedly to make sure that his players get enough rest, but you know how Ravenclaws are; reading books until dawn, attending classes, and then going straight to Quidditch practice is not a good combination."

"Are you saying that the stairs are moving to help those who they favour?" asked Lily, surprised.

"Eh, not exactly. The castle is just like that. Helping students who need it the most. And compared to us, the Ravenclaws need rest more than we need to get to our destination. Then again, the stairs also like to play tricks on students… No wonder, it must be quite boring to remain in the same position for who knows how long,"

"Hmm… I never thought about it like that…" mumbled Lily.

"We will just have to wait, and then ask the stairs to move. It should not take long,"

"What do you mean by asking the stairs?" Snape asked, confused.

"Exactly what I said," looked back at him Evelyn puzzled.

"You mean, you speak to the stairs?" asked Lily, bewildered.

"Why, you don't?"

"No, that would be strange," laughed Lily.

While Severus expected Evelyn to get defensive over Lily laughing at her, he was surprised when her reaction was only a frown.

"So, what do you do? Just wait until the stairs move again?"

Snape nodded, while Lily audibly agreed, "Well, yes, there is not much we can do. I mean, some people tried to use their brooms to fly down between the staircases, but McGonagall quickly put a stop to that."

Hearing that, the other girl just sighed, before she said, "Let me get this straight… Every time you have to move from one floor to another, you just wait for the stairs to move? How much time does that take?"

Lily just shrugged. "It depends. Sometimes ten minutes, sometimes twenty. Once we were late to Potions because it took us almost an hour to get down."

Seeing the bewildered look on Evelyn's face, she quickly added, "But that's fine. We just need to leave earlier so that we get there in time. It's no big deal."

Evelyn just facepalmed, "So, you just wait around for the stairs to move, every time you need to go somewhere, making you late, and yet I am the strange one for asking the stairs for help?"

Lily blushed in embarrassment. "Well, it's better than talking to the castle! Like how do you do that? You squat down, and say 'Oh, Mr Staircase, please move because I'm gonna be late'? Or how does it work?"

Snape winced. He agreed with Lily, talking to the castle was nonsense, but at the same time, he was sure that Evelyn would not tolerate her talking to her this way. He got ready to reach for his wand if needed.

However, Evelyn just laughed as she shook her head, "Gosh, you are idiots… I don't know how to tell you this, but… you know… this is a magic castle! It constantly changes its layout to accommodate the students and the teachers. New classrooms appear and disappear, and the number of dorms is also changing to accommodate the number of students… I - Gosh, I cannot be with you people… Alright, pay attention, I will show you how it is done,"

After the Ravenclaws arrived on their floor, Evelyn spoke up, "Now, listen carefully, because I am only going to show you this once. It works better if you touch the bannister, but technically it should also work if you were to touch the walls or the floor, the only difference being that then you would have to address the castle and not specifically the stairs."

While the Slytherin girl was busy explaining, the two friends just looked at her half curious and half wondering whether she has lost her mind from studying too much.

"Of course, once you achieve that level of proficiency, you would not need to be physically connected to the object, but that is still far away for us. So, as I said, you create a connection," here she placed her hand on the staircase, "then you concentrate. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, focus your energy." she did all these things as she said them, "Imagine the energy flowing through your body, through your arm, and into the object. The first thing after establishing the connection is to introduce yourself. You usually just speak in your mind, but if you are alone you can speak loudly, however, if you end up getting caught, you will receive some strange looks." sneered Evelyn, before she composed herself, "As the castle is by now familiar with my energy, I will not introduce myself, but you should say your role when you are requesting something." she explained before she spoke up, "Thank you, kind staircases for constantly providing help to the students in need. Now that there are no students in need, please, help this humble student to reach the Clock Tower Courtyard as soon as possible,"

The moment she finished talking the stairs moved, but unlike any other time where random staircases moved in a random direction, the staircases, which moved created a patch for the students, straight to the third floor and to the door leading to the courtyard.

While the other two watched surprised and amazed, Evelyn smiled softly and thanked the staircases before she removed her hand.

"Shall we go?"

"That was amazing!" exclaimed Lily. "And you do this all the time?" she asked as she walked next to the Slytherin girl, downstairs, while Snape trailed behind her.

"Only when needed. You must not forget that you are using energy, which means that you have to take into account that you lose energy by doing this, not to say that you will also need some energy to demonstrate the spells during the lessons. If you overwork yourself, you will only end up in the hospital wing, so you need to be careful when doing something like that."

"How do you know how to do that?" asked Snape suddenly, from behind the girls.

While Lily was amazed by this trick, he found it suspicious. He had never seen anyone do this, he had never heard anyone talk about it, not to say that she said that it could lead to the hospital wing.

Evelyn took a minute to respond, but in the end, she just shrugged. "It is only logical. The fact that your environment responds to your energy is basic knowledge. This castle was built to accommodate people's needs and since its role as a school, it is used for infrequent bursts of the students' energy. Therefore, it is only logical that by creating a connection and using my energy to familiarise myself with the castle, I could ask for its help,"

Although her explanation made sense, Snape still frowned at her liberal use of the word logical. He thought that it was anything but logical.

"So, one day you thought that instead of waiting you could ask the stairs to move?" asked Lily for clarification.

"Yes, pretty much,"

"Wow,"

"My time is very precious to me, therefore I don't like to waste it on unimportant things," said Evelyn simply, before she added, "for this reason, let me make one thing clear; I have no intention of becoming your friend. The only reason why I chose to spend time with you was simply that I found your suggestion entertaining. That's all."

Upon hearing that, Lily's eyes went wide and her mouth opened in surprise. "What? Why are you saying that? You never know, maybe we have more in common than it seems."

Evelyn just sighed. "To be honest, I have no interest in you. No offence, but you have nothing to offer that would interest me. No status, no power, no knowledge."

"I-I'm one of the best students in our year!" defended herself Lily.

"Oh, yes, that's true, but what is that worth?"

"Huh?"

"See? The difference between you and me is the understanding of how the wizarding world works. Sure, school is important, but just how much worth does the knowledge you earn here? I recommend that you study up on the wizarding society, because while for someone like you excelling in school is something praiseworthy, for people like me it is not only expected, but it's below the bare minimum on the list of expectations." said Evelyn coldly, "While I give credit where credit is due, don't think that you are something else, just because you dominate the children's playground,"

With that, she went ahead, leaving the surprised duo behind.

That was until Lily shouted after her, "Wait! So, what do I have to know to be a person of interest?" making the other girl turn around.

"There is a lot for you to learn, and frankly, I believe that even if you spent the rest of your Hogwarts days studying, it would not be enough."

By saying that Evelyn expected Lily to be hurt, offended, maybe even throw some curses her way, however, she just smirked, "Bet. I will become a person who you will find interest in, just you wait."

Hearing that, Evelyn let out a smirk on her own, "Very well. Let's discuss more in the courtyard. Are you coming?" she asked Severus, who was quietly standing behind the Gryffindor.

He just nodded, and the trio walked to the courtyard.

"Just you wait, I will have you interested in me and you will be begging for my friendship, before the end of the school year," said Lily, full of confidence.

"I doubt that, but feel free to think whatever you want."


While the girls were busy doing whatever that was, Snape just walked behind them quietly, confused, and a little lost.

'How did we even get from Lily wanting to be friends with Evelyn to Evelyn teaching Lily about the Wizarding World?' he thought.

That's when the moment of sudden realisation hit him.

Is it possible that?

No. No way.

Or maybe?

No.

After all, Evelyn didn't care enough about Lily to do that.

During their stay in the courtyard, Snape paid special attention to the books that Evelyn recommended for Lily, making mental notes about the ones that he wanted to take a look at, as well.

There were books about magical theory, history, mythology, and even politics, and while Evelyn kept listing sources, she also added some insight on what to expect and what is important in the books.

"Oh, also, to learn about social life, you should start reading the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly. Well, technically you could also take a look at TeenWitch, but don't expect much."

While Evelyn spoke, Lily was nodding and taking notes, and Snape wondered whether he was having some kind of delirious dream. He never expected this to happen.

"Oh, and you should also look into meditation, but that can wait. I think you have enough studying to do as it is,"

Lily looked at Evelyn, her eyes burning with determination, and said, "Just you wait. After I'm done with these books, you will be begging me to be your friend."

Evelyn just smiled at Lily's words, "Can't wait,"

With that Lily stood up and stormed off to start with her work, leaving the bewildered Severus with Evelyn in the courtyard.

"Well… That did not go according to my expectations, but I am not complaining," giggled Evelyn, now that the Slytherins were the only two people in the courtyard.

"I didn't think that you would give her work to do. Was it your plan to change the subject so that she wouldn't try to befriend you?"

"Oh, Severus, you think too highly of me," laughed Evelyn, "At first I was curious about how she wanted to become my friend, but after what happened on the stairs, I realised how little she knows."

Severus just raised a brow in a silent plea for her to continue.

"Lily Evans is doing well academically, but she is still a muggle-born. Thus, many practices which are logical for us are strange to her. While she has the potential to achieve great things, her lack of knowledge can put her in a difficult situation."

"Hmm, I had the impression that you disliked her. Helping her out like that is uncharacteristically kind of you," commented Snape, and Evelyn laughed dryly.

"As I said before, I don't have any strong feelings regarding her. However, I'm quite selfish. And one of the things I like to see is people with great potential achieving great things," she said, looking at Severus pointedly, before she continued, "People like you, Lucinda, or Bonnie, who have potential, but lack the means to get yourself noticed, can greatly benefit from my 'friendship'. Yet someone like Lily Evans, who is set on creating a path for herself, makes people notice her, and for someone like her, a relation to me might hinder her growth. Not to say that I also have a reputation to uphold."

Snape was quiet for a moment before he said, "You have given this a surprising amount of thought,"

Evelyn just smiled, "Of course, father raised me to look for potential in people. Search for potential allies, keep an eye out for potential enemies… Look at people's strengths and weaknesses, and how you can use them. People like Evans, or you, for that matter, come to school to learn magic. People like me come here to create connections; professors, and peers, it does not matter. You come here to create a path to other families and other people who can become useful in the future." She said dryly, before she added as a second thought, "Make no mistake, every single connection I have built at Hogwarts has been carefully planned. This is one of the reasons for that clause in the agreement about friendships. While I wish you success, I cannot let you stand in my way. I hope you understand..."

Hearing that Severus was once again shocked by the amount of thought she put into everything she did.

Was it selfish?

Yes.

Was it manipulative?

Yes.

But on the other hand, he had to say that he never thought that she would be this calculating. Not to say that the way she talked about Lily, her tone was almost kind. Still, there was something that didn't make sense to him.

"I thought you despised muggle-borns,"

Evelyn thought for a moment before she replied, "I don't despise muggle-borns, I despise ignorance… I despise muggle-borns who refuse to learn more about the magic they received from the universe. I despise muggle-borns who parade around not understanding at all what they are doing and just trying to show off with their 'powers'. And most of all, I despise muggle-borns who have the ability to do great things, but they refuse to use the power they have…. So, no, I don't care where your power is from. I only care about what you do with it."

Snape took a moment to think about what he has heard. Of course, he didn't expect her to go on a full racist rant about her hatred of muggle-borns, but her answer surprised him, regardless.

Seeing his puzzlement, Evelyn gave a dry laugh, "You must be perplexed by my answer. Ask anyone else they will tell you the same thing they heard from their parents, grandparents, great grandparents about how the muggle-borns don't know how to use magic, how they have no regard for our culture and traditions, how they bring shame to the names of wizards and witches, oh yes, and how they endanger all of us." After saying that, Evelyn shook her head, before continuing, "Now imagine hearing these ideas all your life. You grow up thinking that it's the truth of the world, you never question it, because why would you? Then you come to Hogwarts and realise that what you thought was real and true, is in fact, a load of rubbish… This realisation is enough to shatter your soul. While I am sure many of us are blind to this, those of us who realise that we have been fed idiotic lies based on prejudices all our lives have a choice to make. Defy your family and try to get the others to realise the truth, or pretend to be blind to keep the good relationships in your family."

Hearing her say it like that Severus couldn't help but see it as a spectrum where on one end stood, ugh, Sirius Black, who was rebelling against his family openly befriending muggle-borns, while Evelyn was civil with them while trying to maintain her distance and keep up her image. Severus knew that he had been quiet for too long, and he was afraid that she might feel awkward with his silence.

"I have never thought about it like that…" was all he could muster.

Evelyn just laughed, "That's alright, most people wouldn't. Now, I shouldn't bore you more… How about heading down for supper?"

Severus just nodded, but as they walked inside and to the Great Hall, he was still thinking over what he has heard.

"Do you often think about these things?"

"Don't overthink it. As I said, most people don't think about these things in such terms… But then again; my father is a member of the Wizengamot. My husband will probably be a political figure as well. My son will most probably end up in politics as well. As the Williams heir, I have the chance to implement changes in our society, so of course, I would often think about what we do right, what we lack, and how we can do better."

This statement made Snape sneer, "I didn't take you for someone who would have even their future child's life planned out. That's something I would expect from Travers, not from you."

Evelyn just shrugged. "That's how things in high society go. Take a look at Narcissa Black… Sorry, Malfoy, now… Her father is in politics, her father-in-law is in politics, Lucius works at the Ministry as well. I'm willing to bet that her son will also work in the Ministry…. This is given. This is how things are going to be. We can cry, we can rebel… or… we can make the best of the best of the situation, use any means necessary and turn the unsatisfactory situation around." She finished with a smirk and Severus found himself speechless once again.

Seeing his reaction, Evelyn just laughed and pat his arm, "As I said; it's nothing for you to worry about, so don't overthink it."

Sure, she said not to overthink it, yet, for the next hours, Severus couldn't help but think about what was said today. At the end of the day, he came to the conclusion that while Lily was working hard to get Evelyn interested in her, Evelyn was effortlessly the most fascinating person he has ever talked to. And for the first time in a long while, Severus fell asleep with a smile on his face, not that anyone would see, since the curtains around his bed were drawn, excited to learn more about the fascinating person they called Evelyn Williams.